Corvette C7 Cargo Area Interior Trim Removal

Corvette C7 Cargo Area Interior Trim Removal

Okay a bunch of guys are wanting a “How to..” removing the Corvette C7 rear cargo area interior panels. Here’s my best stab at it.

Tools needed:

Torq T40

Plastic pry tools

Needle nose pliers

Suggested Tools

Magnetic pickup tool

Inspection mirror

Latex/Nitrile gloves

Duct tape

7 & 10mm nut driver

Mild Threadlock

The suggested tools above, are from my experience so far. I’ve had more than a dozen bolts, screws, & nuts that were just beyond finger tight. So I’d imagine in about 20k mile a couple of these will back off, fall down in between panel & rattle every time you hit a speed bump. As I work on the car I’m casually checking fasteners for tightness & applying some purple thread lock where possible. Use your best judgment.

I suggest gloves are because you’ll be rubbing up against fiberglass & it’s pretty itchy. This is what the duct tape is for. If you find yourself itching, pull off a foot or two, heat it up with a torch or heatgun. Then quickly lay the hot tape on the skin. Then gently pressing against the skin to get a good bond, wait about 10 secs. for the adhesive to cool & then pull it off.

The needle nose pliers, Inspection mirror, & pick up magnet are for those little spring steel clips that hold the interior panels. Sometimes they fall off & into small places. Additionally, it’s in
your best interest to check the clips & bend any of them that need reshaping. If you’ll take the time to look at every panel clip &
make sure it’s close to it’s original shape, you can remove & reinstall several times & never have a loose panel or one that’s lost it’s fit. Oh & I almost forgot a small blunt torch or a hot air pencil used in soldering work really well if you screw up & whiten some of your plastic. Go slow & heat up (not melting) the area that’s whitened, & it’ll just disappear.

Superglue & epoxy for plastics, the super glue uses acetone as a primer & it works well, but Loctite for plastics is 2nd to none, once it’s cured it has a death grip on most plastics.

Removal

1. Remove all 4 D-ring plastic covers using plastic the pry tools, pry from the backside where the D-rings are hinged. Once they’re popped off, remove the Torq screw with the T40 & remove from vehicle. I keep metal parts & plastic parts separate, more specifically, I place all my plastics with the finished side face up & place them on something like a beach towel

2. Using your pry tools lift up the lower sides of the roof panel perch (yeah, I made that up, all by myself…). The spring clips insert at a 45° angle you will be pulling towards the center of the rear
glass when removing either perch. Once the lower clips start to release take another plastic pry tool & lift the upper sides. Usually this piece will release its 4 clips in order of lower rear, upper rear, lower front, upper front. Whenever one of the clips releases leave the pry tool in place to prevent it from reinserting itself. This is piece is the hardest of all the panel pieces.

3. Removing the rear side panels. If you notice this contours the wheel well, if you were inside the vehicle. You’d need to start at about the 10 o’clock position for the driver side & the 2 o’clock position for the passenger side, relating to the wheel well shaped part of the panel.

Once this begins releasing stick your hand inside the panel where the perch panel was removed earlier. Just sticking your hand inside will release these clips, otherwise you might need a small push to get them to release.

At this point you have 3 more clips that will release pretty easy & the finally 4 clip is very close to the front edge of the panel, be careful, don’t yank or remove the panel by twisting. Take not of the picture above regarding how the panel clips are angled. When reinstalling the panels, give the clips a quick look, make sure they’re fully seated against the plastic tabs.

4. Now both side panels are removed, the carpet can come out with some finesse. You start over the battery by pushing & bunching the carpet & letting is bow upward in the middle just enough you can get your hands underneath it in the main area of the carpet, not just that corner where the battery is underneath. That corner is really weak & will tear if you’re not careful.

5. Okay you now have the carpet coming up on the passenger side, now go to the driver’s side, open the storage compartment & using a plastic pry tool, lift & separate the 3 carpet spring clips that attach to a beauty ring that part of the compartment itself. See the picture, I took on this, it may not become apparent until you begin lifting the passenger side of the carpet.

6. You got the carpet up in the back, the carpet can come out & that’s about it! Run your electrical for radar & reinstall in reverse order.

The rest of my photos are in a link here below, they’re all in public folder directory so feel free to browse all you want…Article submitted by “Wormwood” from the Corvette Forum